Culleenamore strand is located on the south side of the half-promontory of Strandhill, at the mouth of

Ballysadare Ballysadare (), locally also Ballisodare, is a town in County Sligo, Ireland. It is about 7 kilometres (4 miles) south of Sligo town. The town developed on an important crossing of the Owenmore River. History Toponymy The Ox Mountains () ar ...

Bay, Co Sligo,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Culleenamore is a diverse animal habitat, and also a

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

sanctuary. Horse racing at Culleenamore''Briggs, Brenna'', ''The horse races at Culleenamore''
/ref> dates back to the early 1800s, and it is possible the tradition originated much earlier; the surrounding sand hills form a natural grandstand for spectators. The races were annually held, with a few lapses, up until 1954. But in recent decades owing to the popularity of the Culleenamore course, racing has been revived again by the local people.''McGoldrick, Seamus''. ''Culleenamore history''
/ref>

Early history

The

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...

beds at Culleenamore are said to be the oldest in the county and the exquisite oysters were a staple in the diet of the people in the area. Buried under the soil and sand are huge mounds of oyster shells. The sides of some of these banks close to the shore have been worn away to reveal piles of shells antiquarians call Kitchen-middens''discoverireland.net, kitchen middens''
/ref> These remarkable artifacts show that ancient people gathered oysters along the shore at Culleenamore then cooked and ate them at these sheltered spots behind the ‘sandy fields’ thousands of years ago.

Gallery

File:Culleenamore Beach - geograph.org.uk - 824472.jpg, Culleenamore Beach, looking southwest File:Ox Mountains.jpg, sunset over Ox Mountains, as seen from Culleenamore

References

{{Reflist

External links

Go Strandhill - Culleenamore walks

''Ballysadare Bay (Culleenamore) tide times''
County Sligo articles missing geocoordinate data Beaches of County Sligo